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This shop streamlined its selection of cutting tools to machine a number of parts on a pallet system. Cutting down on cutters delivered other benefits as well.
How do you get 60 tools to run 142 part numbers? For Precise Machining & Manufacturing of Tulsa, Oklahoma, answering that question was key to dramatically improving productivity in the production of aluminum aircraft parts.
Still another benefit relates to optimizing the process. A shop that routinely uses hundreds of tools probably does not have a hope of understanding all of them well. But when a much smaller number of tools do most of the work, the shop is much better able to understand each of them. With just three tools doing much of the pallet system’s milling, Precise has been able to learn precisely what speed and feed rate it can achieve from each of these tools in various cutting conditions, and what tool life to expect. Because these few cutters are so vital, the shop has been able to maximize the value it gets from each one.
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